Recent rains and floods have highlighted the need to expand the underground drainage system in Vijayawada. It rained in Vijayawada on 31st of last month and 1st of this month. Rain water has already stood on the roads in many places. Side drains and roads are united.
While 1.01 lakh houses have underground drainage connections in Vijayawada city municipality, there are 1.09 lakh houses without connections. Many houses do not have underground drainage connections. In many places there are still open drains.
They too have been buried for the last five years due to lack of proper maintenance. When it rains, there are no arrangements for water to flow, so the flood comes out of the sewers. Due to this effect, sewage is flooding the roads of various colonies like Bandaru Road, Eluru Road, Autonagar Vandadugala Road, Benz Circle Flyover Service Road, Mahanadu Road, Gunadala.
Between 2014-2019, the then TDP government undertook the modernization of sewers in Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. Persuading the central government to pay Rs. 462 Crore funds have been collected. Work has also started. About Rs. 200 crore works worth have also been completed.
However, those works were stalled after YCP came to power. With the coalition government coming to power, people are hoping that a permanent solution to the drainage system will be found again today. All the streets of Vijayawada flow like canals for just one rain. The threat of Budameru is always present. There is no guarantee that there will not be huge floods in the Krishna River in the future!
A multi-pronged strategy is needed to deal with all this. Long term planning and preparation is required. Even if it costs Rs.10,000 crores for all this, the government should consider it as a top priority. The cooperation of the central government should be taken. If necessary, these projects should be undertaken on a war footing with loan assistance from organizations like the World Bank.
